Benjie is 13 years old. He is poor, he is black, and he is hooked on heroin. Everybody wants him to get clean, but Benjie isn't sure he wants to kick his habit. The drugs make him feel calm. They make him feel better about his mom spending so much time with her boyfriend.

Nancy and Katie are best friends with one big thing in common they both cut themselves, Not by accident, we do it purposely and regularly because physical pain is comforting, and because now it has become a habit.

In the years since its original publication, this acclaimed, bestselling diary-format account of a teenage girl's harrowing descent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teens readers.

While partying in an abandoned house with friends who are using drugs, Cassidy and Ken face a difficult decision when they find a classmate murdered and risk implicating themselves if they go to the police.

Young, black, 16-year-old Steve Harmon, an amateur filmmaker, is on trial for the murder of a Harlem drugstore owner and could face the death penalty. Steve copes by writing a movie script based on his trial. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred until he can no longer tell who he is or what the truth is.

It's not about the drugs. It's not about the girls or the fights or the fading streetlights. It's about two nights that weren't going to be different from the rest, but then took a turn. It's about trying to find out who you are and who your real friends are. It's about everything being the same, the same, the same. It's about nothing being the same again. It's about Brendon, Will, and Kevin â three friends on different paths â and the weekend that put them to the test.

Sometimes maybe you need an experience. The experience can be a person or it can be a drug. The experience opens a door that was there all the time but you never saw it. Or maybe it blasts you into outer space.

Andy Jackson was driving the car that crashed one night after a game, killing Robert Washington, his best friend and the captain of the Hazelwood High Tigers. It was late, and they'd been drinking, and now, months later, Andy can't stop blaming himself. As he turns away from family, friends, and even his girlfriend, he finds he's losing the most precious thing of all â his ability to face the future.

17-yr-old Anthony "Spoon" Witherspoon is returning to Harlem after seven months at an exclusive prep school. He's missed his girlfriend, though, and is shocked to discover upon his return that the bright young poet she was when he left has become a drug addict.

Fifteen-year-old Dani struggles with deep emotional issues and a history of abuse while rehabilitating at a mental hospital for teens. As she slowly begins to heal, she makes good friends who are fighting their own demons and learns to confront the tragic

Fifteen-year-old Raina lives on the streets with her boyfriend, Sonny. His growing drug habit pulls Raina into a horrific world of self-loathing. Can her teacher help her deal with the hardships life has given her?